Perspectives on the Development of Post-Concrete Poetry ... · Damen, manifesto "poesia visiva"...

Perspectives on the Development of Post-Concrete PoetryAuthor(s): Siegfried J. SchmidtSource: Poetics Today, Vol. 3, No. 3, Poetics of the Avant-Garde (Summer, 1982), pp. 101-136Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1772393Accessed: 05/06/2009 13:04

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Perspectives on the Development of Post-Concrete Poetry

SIEGFRIED J. SCHMIDT Literary Studies, University of Siegen

1. OBITUARY: ON THE DECEASE OF CONCRETE POETRY Authors of concrete poetry have been proclaiming the death of their art form since the end of the sixties (see Stereo Headphones, 1970:1, 2 and 3), and if the disappearance of this term from the contemporary scene is any indication, then it certainly must be dead. This passing, lamented by some, applauded by others, is accompanied by a problem which might irritate literary historians in particular: the "deceased" cannot clearly be identified. In fact, it was not even identifiable during its "lifetime," having appeared in Proteus-like masks and disguises. Now that its death has been announced, one is still not quite sure in which of its masks this Proteus died and in which it may still live on. Since the seventies, in small literary and artistic journals, anthologies, private printings and other editions, an identifiable relative of the deceased has been appearing.' Great festivals of phonetic poetry and new music (e.g., in Amsterdam, Glasgow, Stockholm, Berlin) evidence that not only the visual, but also the acoustic domain of what is still called concrete poetry survives with full academic recognition. Concrete poetry as the actual production and presentation of works connected in one way or another to the concretist program is not dead (cf. Schmidt 1975b:393-433).2 It may be more precise to say that concrete poetry has exhausted its innovative potential (as the renunciation of concrete poetry by many of its former authors suggests). This potential for innovation was founded on such distinctive features of concrete poetry as:

internationalism

experimentation with materials, techniques, forms of textual arrangement and themes; use of sign systems in dealing with conditions, laws and limits of communication;

1. Cf. the numerous theoretical attempts at defining concrete poetry listed in Horst 1977, bibliography. 2. On the contrary, even today, to use a phrase borrowed from Ruhm, many people produce concrete poetry as if it had just been invented.

? Poetics Today, Vol. 3:3 (1982), 101-136.

102 SIEGFRIED J. SCHMIDT

criticism of society and ideology through a criticism of meaning-constituting procedures; transcending of all traditional forms of poetry and poetry presentation through the use of posters, films, video, tape, etc.; involvement of the receiver as an active co-author who engages in visual play and intellectual games ("Seh-Stiicke und Denk-Spiele").3

The fundamental dilemma of concrete poetry has arisen through its attempt since World War II to revive developments in art and literature from V. Chlebnikov to M. Duchamp, and from the Dadaists to the Surrealists, with certain modifications. This dilemma could be described as its "pre-progammed paradox," originating from two peculiarities of the artistic medium of language: (1) its elements, whether graphic or acoustic, are connected with conventional, stereotyped meanings; and (2) language is normally used instrumentally, to fulfill primarily practical functions (such as establishing contact, transferring information, instruction, etc.). Theoretically, there are two possibilities for using language as an artistic medium (according to the classical concretist concept of Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg which calls for a non-narrative, non-mimetic, but constitutive and presentative art): (1) the complex artistic "language" (consisting of phonemes, graphemes, syntax and meaning) is reduced to phonemes and graphemes as materials to be used graphically or musically (formal manipulation of a partially reduced language); and (2) language is used as a complex entity, with an invented semantics whose sole field of reference is the language itself.

The concrete poetry produced so far has realized only the first

possibility. It seems to me that the second is impossible to realize in its strictest sense, because language is learned as an instrument of mutual instruction and orientation in socializing individuals in society; something can be effected through it which necessarily goes beyond language. The

practice of concrete semantics is realizable, in full or in part, only if it is treated in such a manner that a general semiotic mechanism is revealed and used to advantage. When language is used without linear text construction (e.g., in Heinz Gappmayr's visual texts [fig. 1], or without narrative structures (as in the convoluted texts of Franz Mon's Herzzero

[fig. 2], this is a signal to the receiver that he should not relate this

language to its conventional communicative functions or common referential frames, but rather that he should be aware of other functions, other potential referential frames, including, ultimately, the very act of using language.

3. This is the title of the catalogue of an exhibition by H. Gappmayr, J. Gerz, S.J. Schmidt, and T. Ulrichs at the Student's Cultural Centre in Beograd, 1978. Cf. also the manifestoes of Miroljub Todorovic: "Signalism" (1970), and "Signalist Poetry Proper" (1971); Herman Damen, manifesto "poesia visiva" (1972); and Paul de Vree (1971).

Development of Post-Concrete Poetry

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dann fliegt such der eichelbube mit die fliegen sitzen ja schon dran. saugen an den fingerabdrucken sie laufen nur am rand entlang weil sie nichts sehen mit ihren runden augen woher wissen sie dann, wo sie hinlaufen sollen sic sollen gar nicht laufen, sordern

tuchtig grasen und fett werden als wars ein stuck von mir

zwei links zwei rechts zwei finger drei buben ein ass in den bNinden bitte zahl weiter bitte zahl mit zur kontrolle eins ist der vater eins ist der pater eins ist der krater eins ist der kater wer ist berater bocker der schlaft aber noch meistens schlaft der. klopf mal lass ihn in ruh. er hat das schlummerchen notig er schlaft gar nicht, er lacht ja er lachelt bloss im traum er wackelt ja vor lachen er winselt nur ein bisschen. wer weiss, was er traumt er nokiert sich und wischt sich den mund wems herz voel ist, lauft der mund uber. jetzt rollt er sich zusammen willst du mit ihm verhandeln worOber willst du mit ihm verhandeln ob er rauskommt und wenn er nicht verhandeln will ob er sitzenbleibt und wenn er schon mit jemand anderem verhandelt ob er auch mit uns verhandeln wQrde wenn er nicht will

anlehnen verboton

oder gibts eine alternative eine alternative wozu beispielsweise zum reissversthlu3 naturlich, den hosenknopf und zum hosenknopf - ausser dem reissverschluss die gummibrust und zur gummibrust den heldentod und zu ihm das eiserne kreuz und zum eisernen kreuz die eiserne lunge und zur eisernen lunge milchshake und dazu die pflichtversicherung und zur pflichtversicherung das beharrungsvermbgen und zu dieser naturerscheinung den notstand das ist keine echte alternative dann die oktoberrevolution

gut. und dazu die kieler woche und zur kieler woche du bist unersattlich. die panzerfaust, damit du endlich die schnauze voll

kriegst danke, aber es ist noch platz. was bietet der panzerfaust die stirn das selbstbestimmungsrecht der vBlker gut gebrullt lowe. und zu diesem bestandteil der weltordnung schuhgrosse vierundvierzig um die oder-neisse abzutreten

beziehungsweise die drei gerechten kammacher und zu diesen

F. Mon, 1968 Herzzero Neuwied, Berlin: Luchterhand


eb wir nicht doch mit ihm verhandeln durfen wenn er aber aufstoht, rausgeht, ohne eine antwort zu geben Eann sclhmeissen wir schnell die tlappc zu Eas heisst also: erst handeln, dann verhandeln. und wenn er sauer wird wir Konnen es abwarten woraut sollrie wir warten, wenn wir abwarten dass er verhandeln will und wenn er bloss vortauscht, verhandeln zu wo'len, um zeit zu gewinnen was hilft es ihm, zeit zu gewinnen, wenn er drinsteckt oder er will schnell den fuss dazwischenklemmen wir werden ihm einheizen, dass er sich nicht von der stelle ruhrt

glaubst du an lapsus sein vorderteil vor aller augen In behaarter kleidung, in der es klopft tropft fliesst brennt brodelt'gart gurrt dampft duftet dunstet in weichen massen, die an einem gestell aus rohren und platten befestigt sind und mit deren hilfe in genau bestimmbare richtungen fortbewegt werden konnen, ohne dass das .tropfen fliessen brennen brodeln garen gurren dampfen duften dunsten aufzuhoren brauchte, ja aufhoren durfte, wenn nicht die fortbewegung in frage gestellt und damit schliesslich die dauerhaftigkeit und brauchbarkeit des gestells selbst gefAhrdet worden soil

die kinstliche befruchtung wenns zulangt oder die dimkelkammer und zur dunkelkammer das kreuzverhor und zum kreuzverhor die elektrische elsenbahn und zu diesem weihnachtlichen dings den elektrohenker und zu ihm mottenpulver und dazu gibts keine alex kriegst was von ab kistchen ist kistchen kaltleimen kupon grasgrau grien grellchen glaubst du an einen lapsus eher an hochverrat Ja der konnte es gut gut und prelswert. wie der das machte. doch man liess ihn bald wieder fallen und wischte sich die schmutzige hand am hosenband- orden. er pralite auf den boden, tat ein paar sprunge, das es drihnte wle In einem fass, und riss den aussenminlster mtl Ins schlamassel. dos ganze hohe haus rannte durchelnander, keiner traute dam andern mehr in der aligemelnen staubwolce. die kragen lockerten sich. die hosen wurden schwer von blel und wasser. Jeder schwenktl In der tiiken enen strick und reckte an der rechten drei Iger zum schwur, wihrend ibm die beine zusammenkuniden woilten. dabei waren sich eigerntch aile einig,

105


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In this way, linguistic elements like sind or alles thematically presented by Gappmayr (figs. 1 and 3) do not refer to extralinguistic referents, but rather to the categorical problem of representing language itself. Mon's refusal of narrativity "means" a pragmatic and artistic gesture of turning his back on expected literary techniques and a demonstration of the possibilities of a non-instrumental use of language within an "educated" world of literature which is still determined by narrativity. But in order for concrete poetry to become an alternative to bourgeois literature, great cognitive efforts are required of its authors and receivers: the author must not dwell on formalistic banalities, and the receiver must be able to discern and evaluate the semiotic use of language in poetry. Here we are confronted with the twofold problem of reception. (1) Receivers are programmed by their social culture to have other literary expectations than those that concrete poetry fulfills. In order for concrete poetry to be discerned as an alternative kind of poetry, the receiver must learn to see and read precisely what is there-not, as is common in literary communication, to interpret, that is, to pretend that it is something else.4 (2) If receivers are to become familiar with concrete poetry through critiques, theories, etc., then it will be necessary to rely heavily upon the very discursive language which is so whole-heartedly mistrusted by concrete poets and which they dismiss as mindless and irresponsible.

2. CONSEQUENCES In the following illustrations I will point out some further developments of the classical program of concrete poetry. These are part of a reaction by concrete poets to the problems sketched above. The examples are restricted to the European scene and reflect personal preferences- they do not pretend to representativity. Gerhard Rihm and Ernst Jandl as well as Vincento Accame have recently emphasized the "act of writing and signalling" (La pratica del segno, Accame 1974). (Cf. the exhibition "Geschriebene Malerei" [Carlo Alfano, Annalies Klophaus, Roman Opalka, Dieter Riihmann, Cy Twombly, Ben Vautier] at the Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe, 1975.) Rihm writes:

Through the "Schriftzeichnung" [character drawings] the means of expression provided by handwriting are made useable for art. One must be aware of the relation between the chosen word (or sentence) and the manner in which it is graphically presented, how it "expresses" itself visually. This is a borderline area, a mixed form of text and picture, equivalent to "auditory texts," which extend to! musical parameters, operating on the specific possibilities of the

4. These problems of reception hold true for non-concrete literature as well. If other kinds of literature were received more adequately, it would certainly benefit the receptibility of concrete poetry, too.

Development of Post-Concrete Poetry 107

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human voice. In the present state of the entire artistic development, it would be illusory to ask whether a work is a matter of poetry or of music, of music or of graphic arts, of (mobile) plastic art or of (theatrical) actions. The productions can no longer be related to separate disciplines, neither can the producers be restricted to one domain of materials and expression. One is rather interested in the problems of expression and mediation in general, in the extension of materials and consciousness (Visuelle Poesie der siebziger Jahre, 1978).5

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Works using photo-text-collages in poesia visiva (well-documented in the journal Lotta Poetica), poesia signalista and in text-pictures (e.g., Dencker, shown here. See also the manifestoes by Paul de Vree and Sarenco in the early numbers of Lotta Poetica, and Klaus Peter Dencker (1972; 1978: 58-64).

K.B. Schauffelen, 1979. Invitation card to the exposition in Folkwang Museum, Essen

109


Producing text-corpora (V. Radovanovic, K.B. Schauffelen), object poems or plastic poems (K. Katue).

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A. Arias-Misson, 1970. POEM X. Action in Knokke, Belgium.


Public actions with writing, conceived as action-poem (A. Arias-Misson, G. de Lianio).

Quotation, text-collage, ironically breaking with given patterns of literature and speech, for example by H. Heissenbiittel, Projekt 1, d'Alemberts Ende (1970); or Projekt 3/1, Eichendorffs Untergang und andere Marchen (1978).6

language hollow rarely flowing distance blunt day raw murmur closed land dim glass keen horizon today gradual near yellow warm landscape generous awake leaves love dream stone bud boats among

inform bud nothing branches silent margin mouth tight gradual water lying horizon measure language landscape among murmur stone wings flowing keen generous leaves sky blunt yellow love fragment water space

Thomas A. Clark, 1971. "The Ghost Dance Song" in: J.G. Bowles and T. Russel, eds., 1971

6. Regarding narration, the blurb to Heissenbuttel's Projekt 3/1 is necessary to prevent the receiver from forming a particular impression even before this book is opened, or rather, it directs the reader towards an impression which he would not otherwise have arrived at after his reading:

No remorseful return to the pretended realistic-psychological telling, no harmless "roaringly-telling-to-myself": the unmannerly, broken, parodistic, gross, skeptical sounds of the stories correspond to complex experiences (1978).

Nevertheless, looking back at concrete poetry, it is just that question which remains: is a return to narration, no matter how it is presented, the only (or the apparently necessary) possibility for assimilating "complex experiences"? Note that the question should not be whether concrete poetry has not (or could not have) partially assimilated highly complex experiences. The question should be whether the predilection for narration in literature does not depend on the misconception that the author communicates his experience to the reader, that information is communicated. In fact, it is to be taken for granted that at best a speaker can make the receiver organize experiences into meaningful structures within the receiver's own cognitive domain of orientation. Is this possible only through narrative texts? Indeed, are we correct in assuming that telling is the most consumer-oriented strategy of literature?

111


quadrat H. Gappmayr, 1978.

II


Found poetry (J. Williams, Th. A. Clark, J.F. Hughes).7 Haptic poems (L. Novak). Conceptualization of visual poetry by consciously working out problems in the fine arts (e.g., H. Gappmayr, Jochen Gerz, Timm Ulrichs, Siegfried J. Schmidt).

3. CONCEPTUAL LITERATURE -CONCEPTUAL ART The last illustration, above, deserves a more detailed discussion. In the late sixties and the early seventies, two tendencies converged which could be described as the conceptualization of visual poetry and the lingualization of the fine arts. The points of contact between visual poetry and conceptual art are interpreted very one-sidedly by Gianni Bertini and Sarenco (and others) in their polemic article series "Poesia visiva e conceptual art: Un plaggio ben organizzato" ([trans.] "Visual Poetry and Conceptual Art: A Well-Organized Plagiary" [1971ff]. They attempted to prove that concrete poetry, starting in about 1953, and visual poetry, starting in about 1963, must be regarded as precursors of conceptual art, which began around 1967. According to them, Joseph Kosuth, for instance, merely copied Timm Ulrichs, Ben Vautier, Jean-Claude Moincau and others; Richard Artshwager copied Heinz Gappmayr, etc. K. Honnef, however, interprets the relations exactly the other way around (unconvincingly, I must say): "[.. .] conceptual art provoked a flood of epigonism. Gags, visual poetry, trivial suggestions for changing some structure or the other were offered, and they quickly spread through Germany in particular."8 Both of these interpretations seem to me too superficial, even aside from the discrepancy in dates. It seems to me more likely that developments of slightly different traditions, in expanding, discovered each other. The line of development towards the conceptualization of visual poetry has been mentioned above. The development towards the fine arts has been explained very convincingly by W.M. Faust:

Language today has become a natural medium of art. Language appears in the work of art, as in the works of Lichtenstein, Ben Vautier, and Jean le Gac, or it is associated with picture, as in the works of Twombly and Hartung. Language places itself beside the picture as a comment, as in the works of

7. In J.G. Bowles's introduction to his This Book is a Movie: An Exhibition of Language Art and Visual Poetry (1971), he quotes Thomas A. Clark: "I work mostly upon found texts, since I am convinced that poetry is simply seeing-establishing relations." 8. Honnef also writes: "Since Duchamp [...] the artistic idea became independent of the finished work, until finally it emancipated itself to such a degree that it was accepted as an autonomous, artistic formulation (1971:12). According to B. Naumann, concept art is no longer concerned with

constructible objects, where aesthetic reflection could result from formal peculiarities, hence the notion of post-object art, but with the visualization of intellectual efforts in a manifold way. Since Mondrian the thematic treatment of the language of pictures itself has led to an increasing loss of the traditional "subject matters of art," to an increasing reflection on the idea "art" ("art as art," Duchamp/Kosuth), to the "linguistic substance of art." The artist who wants to advance art beyond its possibilites as painting, is reminded of theory and logic (Kasimir Malevitsch)" (1971).

113


Daniel Buren. Language appears instead of the artwork (Robert Barry) which is realized only in the imagination of the artist/reader through language. Language appears as an artwork, for instance, in the "analytic theory" of the Art and Language Group, or in Boltanski's work. In multimedial actions language becomes an integral part of art uniting artists and receivers by one process of action (1977:27).

So conceptual art, the final stage of increasing concentration on language and ideas in art since the twenties, visualizes intellectual efforts through minimal constellations (cf. D. Karshan: "Art becomes art oriented"). It materializes art into post-object art, into analytic art, into speech as art (cf. Ian Wilson's invitation to an exhibition: "There will be a discussion"), into reflection about art, and into talking about what could be done as and be admitted as art.9 Some examples of this last possibility: L. Weiner:

"6 TEN PENNY COMMON STEEL NAILS DRIVEN INTO THE FLOOR AT INDICATED TERMINALS."

R. Barry:

"All the things I know But of which I am not At the moment thinking 1:36 PM; June 15, 1969."

"Das Unsichtbare Projekt" ("The Invisible Project"):

James Turrell, Robert Irwin and Edward Wortz were commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum in 1969 to conduct a year-long discussion of a

project that never materialized (cf. D. Davis 1975).

As with any bourgeois artform, what conceptual art is and intends to

convey has been defined differently by each individual artist and critic. For one particular version, I would like to quote from Sol LeWitt:

The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. This kind of art is not theoretical or illustrative of theories; it is intuitive, it is involved with all

types of mental processes and it is purposeless. It is usually free from the

dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman. [...] What the work looks like isn't too important. It has to look like something if it has physical form. No matter what form it may finally have it must begin with an idea. It is the process of conception and realization with which the artist is

9. In the "Introductory Note by the American Editor" Kosuth maintains:

In its strictest and most radical extreme the art that I call conceptual is just that, because it is founded on an investigation of the nature of art. Thus it does not merely consist of the activity of producing statements on art, but of elaborating and thinking over all implications in every aspect of the notion "art." On account of the implicit duality of perception and content in former art, a mediator (critic) appeared to be useful. This new art takes charge of the critic's function and thus no longer has any need for a mediator. [. . .] The audience of conceptual art consists mostly of artists-

indicating that an audience apart from the people concerned does not exist. Thus art becomes as "earnest" as science or philosophy in a sense, which have no audience either. Art is interesting or not, depending on whether someone is informed or not

(1972).


concerned. [...] It doesn't really matter if the viewer understands the concepts of the artist by seeing the art. [. . .] The idea itself, even if not made visual, is as much a work of art as any finished product. [. . .] Conceptual art is made to engage the mind of the viewer rather than his eye or emotions. [.. .] Conceptual art is only good when the idea is good. (1965:177-185). (Cf. other competent statements by L. Weiner, J. Kosuth and others in G. deVries, ed. 1965).

In the United States this kind of "language art" is on rather friendly terms with visual poetry, as is illustrated by Bowles and Russel, eds., This Book is a Movie (1971). Here "conceptualists" such as Arakawa, Barry, LeWitt or Weiner are represented together with "concretists" such as Finlay, Furnival, Saroyan, Solt, or Williams. As J.G. Bowles notes in the introduction to this book:

Consider those areas called concrete, conceptual, visual, found poetry: all refer to specialized areas of language-structure experimentation. But none of them describes the movement as a whole. A better label might be simply "language art," a term that seems broad enough to cover all the activities now underway.

After a short overview of language experiments from prehistoric times ("when the first cave man carved a stick horse on the wall of his cave") to today, Bowles concludes that "much of the best experimentation in the area remains uncharted and uncatalogued." He goes on to give some of the reasons for this:

Concrete poetry and conceptual art are movements that have been seriously damaged by intense parochialism, weak exhibitions and self-indulgent anthologies. This split has tended to hamper new developments and to shut out possible new adherents. In concrete poetry, there is the debate between the poet and the designer; in conceptual art, there is the philosopher pitted against the artist who continues to produce a product.

This makes it abundantly clear that the term "concept," like "concrete," is much disputed, and poorly defined. Thus, I make use of the term "concept" merely as an indication of a certain direction which could be marked by declarations of intentions and by the works of authors such as Kosuth, LeWitt, Weiner, or Naumann. In this vague sense I consider the following illustrations of works by Gappmayr, Gerz, Ulrichs and myself examples of what could be called concept literature.

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H. Gappmayr, 1978. Zahlentexte

Since 1962, Gappmayr's works have been influenced by the attempt to treat categorical linguistic problems as a subject of art (see Gappmayr 1978). This attempt has been extended to a thematic treatment of possibilities of presentation and categorization even beyond natural languages, by critically examining the theories and works of conceptual artists. "We are confronted with a complicated correlation between

115


identifications, differentiations, analogies, and possibilities of visual and conceived forms which are withdrawn from any objectification by reflecting on the ideality of concepts and on the reading process" (Gappmayr 1970j. Such formulations might confirm the view of Peter Weiermair, who in the epilogue on Zeichen: Ausgewihlte Texte classifies Gappmayr as close to linguistically oriented art:

Numerous artists, such as Graham, Andre, Weiner or Barry, many of whom, by the way, have come from concrete poetry, have dealt with a subject in this way. Barry or Weiner, for instance, are equally concerned with the experience of dematerialized facts, with the extension of experiencing mental processes which related to the perception of abstract mental entities. In Kosuth's theme of reality, too, the problems of concept-thought-reality are reflected. Like Gappmayr, all conceptional artists are concerned with mental processes that are fundamental to experiencing reality (1975).

.. . ..........

J. Gerz, 1978

Since 1968, J. Gerz's diverse activities have been characterized by a radical reflection on the possibilities of various media, and on a fundamental distrust of communication. H. Molderings writes: "In nearly all of his [Gerz's] works one can find statements of distrust of words and pictures, of media and all that which is subsumed under communication" (1968). A good example of this appears in a quote from his Die Beschreibung des Papiers of 1973 (from a stamp of 1972): "Turning the back on the media. Live." Hostility to pictures, esotericism, refusal of interpretability, destruction of media: these describe the tendencies of Gerz's activities. His photo-text-constellations exemplify this clearly; according to their outward appearance, they are correctly classified by M. Jochimsen as

"Story Art" (Jochimsen 1974). (Jochimsen includes in this classification M. Badura, Ch. Boltanski, J. Baldessari, Jean le Gac, W. Wegmann and P. Hutchinson.) Nevertheless, these works might be better classified as "Anti- Story-Art" because of their twofold refusal to portray. H. Moldering supports this aspect fairly well: "Where photography enters, its fictitious, artificial character remains constantly present. For this reason, [Gerz] contrives a new connection between picture and language, in which texts avoid describing something that can describe itself, and where


photographs do not pretend to portray things that remain beyond their possibilities" (1978). In his "Kulchur Pieces" (1978) (1. "Die Schonheit der Netzhaut" [vom Spiel und den Regeln], Hannover; 2. "The Real Window to the World," Porto, Lisbon; 3. "Das Ldcheln Mona L.'s bleibt unerwidert," Munster), Gerz concentrates on a retreat from representability and pictoriality. The same brown body color appears on all presented objects,the same illegibility, achieved by using mirror writing and by partly covering the written components of these works, which are full of Gerz's recurrent themes: the ability and inability to live, to love, the questions of seeability, visibility, the possibility of experiencing the world (and on the futility of what one does, if one does what Gerz does). "The threat of the window, which slays the world, shall remain perceivable" (note on the exhibition "The real window to the world").10

-^ * at ISA ISA ROSE.

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Timm Ulrichs, 1978

10. It should be emphasized that the written part of his contribution to the Biennale (Die Schwierigkeit des Zentaurs beim vom Pferd steigen, 1976 [Munich: Kunstraum]) is indeed one of the most central texts of modern art.

117


Hypertrophic production: Timm Ulrichs, self-proclaimed total artist, has worked obsessively since the beginning of the sixties. It is indeed easier to look for what he has not (yet) done than to account for what he has, up to and including the experiments with his own life (cf. his action "Scylla und Charybdis," and his annotations in the catalogue on this action [Abano, October 15, 1978]). He has been deeply concerned with problems of tautology and identity since he was a student. Some of the activities in which he deals with these issues are, for example, "tautologie aktion," in which he posted little bills everywhere bearing the inscription "Post No Bills"; the neon light sign "A tautology is a tautology" and the corresponding theoretical considerations in the catalogue on the retrospective exhibition "1960-1975," Braunschweig-Hagen-Heidelberg, 1975-1976:53; the text "The refutation of the principle of identity A f a" of 1970; his "ludic texts" (above) with questions such as "Can you give me an answer to this question?" and with requests such as "Read with closed eyes!"; and his translation action of 1968/1975, or his 1964/1966 presentation of lexical entries.

my life |

I theworld I


an idea always assumes the form

R(a,b)

I, j Is"]

[?n 1 [ 21 | sm3 3? sm sm

or other

(vain alternative.

because:

in the realm of personality all is what it is no matter how it is 'objectively'

THAT IS THE EMERGENCY DOOR.

(for the 'I' at least.)

S.J. Schmidt, 1976 Volumina II/III

My own attempt at realizing something that I call "conceptional poetry" is the result of a critical examination of classical concrete poetry and concept art. It is "conceptional" by contrast with classical concrete poetry, which in my opinion has failed to distinguish among the theoretical, aesthetic, linguistic and pragmatic questions it raises, and which has often degenerated into mere decorativeness, evading problems of conception.

With the "volumina-projekt" (1977) and the series of objects for exhibition, I began to analyze systematically the relations between languages, picture systems and conceptions." I explained my decision to call these attempts "conceptional poetry" (unlike Bertini and Sarenco I did not restrict myself to the "poesia visiva") in two manifestations (1971 and 1973). These writings have played a role in recent discussions (see M. Horst, 1977), and it would be of value to the present discussion as well to reprint them here.

conceptional poetry: manifesto I

1. visual poetry has developed different techniques in utilizing space as a semantic dimension. language has been presented in a position between text-language and code-language.

11. E.g., "On Counting," 1972; "Landkarten fur Gedanken," 1974; "Ich-Notationen I-III," 1972-1975; "On Our Knowledge of the World I + II," 1971 and 1974; "Die Kopie ist das Original der Wirklichkeit," 1975; "Der Versuch einer Veriinderung einer Erfahrung," 1978.

119


2. while in visual poetry the semantic dimension has been reduced to possible structures, conceptional poetry presents a nuclear conversational universe.

3. conceptional poetry concentrates on elementary possibilities of reflection. language is presented as a multi-dimensional field within the optical, acoustic and intellectual area.

4. communication is demonstrated without any prospect of coming to an end.

5. it is beyond. 6. what should be said cannot be said. but be cautious: no reason for calling

that anywhat. look. speak. and think. karlsruhe 1971 (in: neue texte, no. 8/9, march 1972)

manifesto II: from concrete poetry to conceptional poetry: 11 theses

1. Concrete poetry has always tried to integrate two aspects: a) the aspect of experimentation and innovation (primarily on the level of the manifested forms); b) the notional-semantic or conceptual aspect. The complexity necessary to any aesthetic communicative process (because of structural, communicative-psychological reasons) can only be guaranteed by connecting these two aspects.

2. Concrete poetry has become sterile wherever one of these aspects is isolated in a reductive manner (results: graphic gag, or mere declaration of intention). Whereas a reflective attempt at integrating both aspects will result in serious possibilities for a further development of the hitherto

existing concrete poetry towards a conceptional form of poetry. 3. By a conceptional form of poetry I mean attempts at generating more

complex texts (than those of concrete poetry) through an elaborate

integration of optical and linguistic-notional constituents.

4. Conceptional poetry continues to hold two principles of concrete poetry: a) the principle of the generativity of the text-language (replacing the mimesis model of poetry, abolishing the principle of narrativity); b) the principle of code-integration (complication of linguistic and optical codes and techniques of text-construction).

5. Conceptional texts build up complex relational systems between various

meanings of the linguistic and optical constituents within the mixed

optico-linguistic context.

6. But conceptional texts do not realize extratextual thought-concepts (which could be translated into other codes); such concepts are rather

generated only in the process of textual production, mediation and

decoding. By integrating two systems of meaning constitution, or two codes with respectively different meaning structures which are not

unequivocally translatable into each other, the result (i.e., the

conceptional text) is turned into a communicative process between the codes (and their meaning universes) and the communicative partners (author, receiver) - a process that can no longer be interpreted unequivocally.

7. Communicative processes of this type can no longer be closed by simple results of comprehension. The connectivity of conceptional texts to

interpretational systems remains undecidable.

Development of Post-Concrete Poetry 121

8. The open-endedness of the interpretation of such text-see-works engages the reader-observer more intensively than in the case of concrete poetry, and it makes him a creative partner in a complex, aesthetic, communicative process.

9. The open-endedness of the process of experiencing and comprehending on the part of the receiver turns this process itself into a thematic object; and at the same time, the interpreter/receiver turns himself into the object of an intensive experience of the self within the process of comprehension.

10. In dealing' with conceptional texts, three kinds of experiencing are integrated: experiencing the work, the self, and meaning.

11. Conceptional texts as texts effect complex possibilities of meaning- constitution and their communicative realization. Each conceptional text displays (simultaneously, not through sequential narrativity) a nuclear conversational universe.

(in: neue texte, no. 10, march 1973)

f.

,.-.t, SS00-faV}::.

000040.04~~~~~~~~~-~::0: .....:S f i : f :..........:;

S.J. Schmidt, 1976 "The Matter of Fact" (1971)


These attempts can be described as "visualizing intellectual efforts" (B. Nauman). My intention has been to involve the receiver in a conversation, in a reflection. The receiver is not to be patronized by being confronted with finished stories, perfect linguistic formations, closed ideologies. Rather, I have attempted to preserve the openness of all intellectual processes, especially artistic ones, by generating semantically and aesthetically open structures which dissolve and negate all determinations, negating again the negation, etc.

? I'- /..

/ .X

"--.'~.--'7 t ? /4/ A Qui

/

'I ~_I S./ S

/ . - -

\^\ / \' /

, - I.

S.J. Schmidt, 1976


But do such attempts really lead to further developments? Has the general conception of literature been modified in any decisive way? Has there been any change in the attitude of the receiver, or do a majority of receivers feel that too much is being demanded of them - or do they feel excluded, or simply uninterested in conceptional art and literature? Has there been any change in the literary or artistic market, in the capitalist marketing of artworks and artists? Has the gap between "life" and "art" narrowed?

Many authors characterize the seventies by the attempt to answer such questions, whether resignedly, aggressively, or regressively. It seems to me that in the area of literature the resigned and regressive answers dominate. It is not only the literary public that again prefers subjectivity and more private "chamber-music," but even the "experimentalists" seem to be retiring conspicuously into the subjective domain. The world-wide community bf concretists was apparently unable to establish solidarity.

On the other hand, is Carl Einstein (Die Fabrikation der Fiktionen) correct in attacking the modernists and the intellectuals who prostitute them- selves for capitalist parvenues, and who are unable to establish solidarity and a socially committed style?

4. ALTERNATIVES? In view of the social situation described by Einstein, which is evidently the same today, one may ask whether the trajectory of the Jugoslav Group OHO (Marko Pogachnik, Tomazh Shalamun, David Nez, Milenko Matanovich, and Andrazh Shalamun) documented in the retrospective catalogue of the exhibition in Lubljana 1978, is typical of the seventies: from "transcendental conceptualism" to the simple, communal life, to mysticism, to a renunciation of any artistic production. Must conceptional literature follow this course? Indeed, there are sufficient hypotheses to account for the non-acceptance of conceptional literature. Among them:

Mimesis and narrativity belong to the class of cultural phenomena which appear natural because of their widespread acceptance and prestige.

The capitalistic literary market absorbs any innovation and transforms criticism into affirmation.

Literature is made inaccessible by critical interpretation. There may be no basis for "experimental art" in our culture.

I would like to discuss two possible rejoinders to statements of this type: one that might be a result of certain intentions of my own works since the volumina-projekt; and a second that refers to a projected democratic conception of art.

5. THE CONTINUUM-PROJECT In the "Epilogue to the Work Breitenbrunn 1974," (1975:119-121) suspicious of a strict division of society into social action-systems, I questioned the social interests underlying the present departmentalization of actions and manifestations of life (see Schmidt 1975, Appendix 1, here). Questions of this sort may seem to be naive: domains of social action such as science, art, philosophy, economy, sport, etc., have been established in the course

123


of history, and they interrelate individuals and roles, reducing complexity (in N. Luhmann's sense), and facilitating social life. An individual cannot annul these social "organizing authorities." However, what kind of conclusions can we draw from this? How do we know, for instance, that a problem, a question, an answer belongs to that area to which it has been assigned by social conventions? We do not know-among other reasons, because hardly any humanly important and interesting problem could ever be solved by reduction to component problems. An illustrative example is that of language. Where do we find the individually and socially relevant domains of the linguistic problem? In the philosophy of language and linguistics, in literature or conceptual art, in daily experience with language as a means of communication? Or everywhere; in which case, does the sum of the component problems constitute the whole? Is language primarily important as a means of expression or contact? As a representation of cognitive structures? As a medium for establishing and preserving personal and social identity? As a material that can be worked with graphically or acoustically?

My experience with languages, and my descriptions of them (from the viewpoints of philosophy of language, linguistics, literature and art) within the framework of my volumina-projekt (completed after seven years' work, published in 1977) have led me to the definitive answer that there are no departmentalizations that can easily be motivated, or that are "natural." (This is with the exception of empirical, scientific inquiries into aspects of language on the basis of analytic theories of science, dealing with intersubjectively reduced segments in an explicit and deliberately restrictive manner.) In daily, artistic, and philosophical experience, descriptions and evaluations converge, collide, overlap; they constitute a continuum, always related to the experiencing individual and to his identity. This identity is interpreted as his biography, and is related to the totality of the individual's actions, experience and emotions. In order for this to be so, this same individual needs, on the one hand, social categorizations of the type of philosophy, art, literature, sport, etc., for interpreting situations and actions, but on the other hand must permanently call such categorizations into question-thinking and living independently, in order to stay alive.

Helmut Eisendle seems to have had something similar in mind when he wrote:

The dilemma of classifying literature and science consists in imposing a discipline upon the author, starting from a conventional system of categories. This receptive pseudo-process is the result of a complicated socio- psychological operation, of a more or less conventional reflection on texts depending on the texts of other authors. The work as convention mediates a fictitious knowledge about the author, who is classified as a type, so that by virtue of his work he can be made responsible ex post facto for the pre-defined type. In this strange, circular way the "philosophic," the "scientific," the "insane" author was discovered. [...] Any conception of literature must be private and individualistic. It is a sequence of compulsions that can be explained by the confrontation between the individual position and the technological system. Thus the writer is compelled to see the world not as an


artist, but as a member of society, exposed to various repressions and to the common difficulties of existence and development; but on the other hand, he is also compelled to be interested in means and domains that may assist in overcoming, explaining and understanding the problems. These things which have nothing to do with literature in the traditional sense, are necessarily related to the domains of linguistic criticism, social sciences, sociology, psychology, technology, economy, epistemology, economics, etc. They are concerned with everything that concerns civilization. Whether the treatment or inclusion of those domains in writing produces literature, no literature, science or the reverse makes no difference at all, because the legitimation of the work will be derivable from its necessity for the author and others. In this respect, the conventional definitions and classifications of literature and science deserve to be forgotten. That this does not happen, cannot happen, is proved merely by a precarious assumption: both science and literature are not concerned with producing science or literature in the quest for knowledge, but with the state which is expressed in the notions of scientist and author (1978:20).

This account, however faltering, nevertheless corroborates my view that the continuum relates to persons, to the total capacity and activity of individuals.'2 Personally, I have realized my own potential by working in areas which conventional classifications had made inaccessible; by working in a variety of areas without identifying myself with any one

particular role; by producing something which resists common classifications; by becoming indifferent to the expectations of genre and domain, while remaining sensitive to the expectations aroused by the

specific activity. In short, my goal has been to work within a continuum, one which embraces "life" and "art."'3 The conventional domains are not, however, obliterated by the continuum: for any work it should still be

possible to indicate what sort of task is involved, even if this is the

paradoxical task of producing (relatively) uninterpretable or indetermi- nate objects, with a view to achieving optimal reception. To illustrate this I would like to describe two such objects which function in this continuum. (What follows are not interpretations, of course, but annotations.)

12. Cf. the catalogue of my lecture and exhibition action "Die Mechanik des Normaden" at the Westfalischer Kunstverein Miinster (10-15 Nov. 1981). 13. This is absolutely in accordance with Joseph Beuys:

I demand an artistic participation in all domains of life. At present, art is taught as a special discipline. [.. .] I plead for an aesthetic engagement on the part of science, economy, politics, religion-on the part of each domain of human activities. Even the process of peeling potatoes can be a work of art, if it is a conscious action (1975:218).

125


. X

i . I I

f F ONTHE

"Das Geruest. Hommage a I. Kant" (The Scaffold. Hommage to I. Kant)

In this project 50 photos (50x70 cm) printed on plastic foil lie on the floor, no space separating them; above, at eye-level, hang the "originals" (DIN A4) comprising a photo and a text stamped on cardboard, fixed at a distance equivalent to the difference in size of the photo; to the ceiling, as high as possible, are fixed 50 postcard-size photos taken from the photos on the floor, separated by relatively larger intervals, which can be read only with some effort-depending on the height of the room.

Each photo shows a scaffold, and next to it, as a text, is the title of a famous post-seventeenth-century philosophical work. All but two of the quotations are modified according to the same pattern: the central words of the titles are replaced by the words scaffold, scaffoldology, study of scaffold (that is, e.g., Critique of Pure Scaffold; Will to Scaffold etc.). So 200 years of philosophy are reduced to one term, which is taken sufficiently seriously as to be hand-stamped letter by letter, manually produced. Kant is alluded to in quotations from his Critique of Pure Reason; the allusion can be extended in view of the central role of space (fixture) and time (time of reading).

m -

--- - - - ------~.r_. ..

FF I

,,

x-" ::,,?g*:

c A,f:k;art?l ic%Y?: ,L' i)LIe 2.,? i

ui, :?

t fr U Cyl.xc- :1 u

auf A

#*f 4 - u skin ,

- WI ~ ~ 1

?I

=

tt" 4t3PU

atin - ? C,, f

~~~~~~~~~~~~~C) ?: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 7 H 0P: lldlbgtI Schmidt, 1980 C)

sinsi~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Schidt 1980~a tN3

"sechs schritte nach ausserhalb" S.T.


"Der Versuch einer Verdnderung einer Erfahrung" ("The Attempt to Modify an Experience") This project involves a procedure that I had tested for the first time in the "arbeit breitenbrunn" in 1974. The raw material for this project was ten sheets of lecture notes which I had scribbled for my lectures on the theory and practice of an empirical study of literature at the Jugoslav University of Nis (schemata, graphical sketches, names, abbreviations, formulae, and many other things). For several weeks I used these sheets, which had had a clearly defined function within the lecture framework, for writing down various notes on other projects and spheres of action. Finally three words, "space, time, identity," were stamped on each sheet together with the title of the project "Der Versuch einer Veranderung einer Erfahrung," and at least ten variants of the English sentence pattern "it is ... that you are after it is ... that you detect."

These ten sheets comprise the first component of the project. The second consists of all texts or text fragments (except the logical formulae and the abbreviations from the original schemata) which are legibly attached to the sheets. (This part of the project appeared in Manuskripte 68, 1980: 90-95.) The receiver is given a free hand in making use of these texts (text constituents). The simplest possibility would be to use the collection as a legend, the most desirable would be to produce texts with this material according to one's own situation.

The third component is a collection of aphorisms on the possibility of a democratic art (Schmidt 1983). The fourth finally comprises a complete bio-bibliography (relative to the exhibition in concern) as one form of representing a continuum specific to an individual.

The title "Der Versuch einer Veranderung einer Erfahrung" is an intentionally selected self-quotation from a graphic that is added to the complete edition of the volumina-projekt, so that the possibility of representing a continuum is documented in the respect as well.

Projects of this type may be the beginning of a new perspective, characterized by:

A new complexity in considering the experience conceptually; no narrative complexity, but a complexity arising from questions, irritation, distrust, indifference. Performance of the work within a continuum, from philosophy to science, from banality to complex notional analytics. Embedding "life" into "everything," "art" into "everything." Independence from the role of the artist, and from bohemia as a form of life.

Independence from the market by cooperating with alternative publishers, distributional and presentational possibilities (e.g., private publication, mini- press, workshop). Independence from the addiction to originality and the fetishisms of authenticity, accentuating curiosity and indifference.

Overlap and integration of analytics and production (see Appendix 2).


APPENDIX 1

S.J. SCHMIDT, AXIOMATIK DER POST-ART ART (1975) 1. there are three constants:

indifference usualness chance

2. it holds true: all concepts are equal all models are equivalent all values are analogous all descriptions are equally appropriate all systems are complete all states are closed all developments are finished all differences are removed all works are incredible all languages are useless all worlds are constructs all constructs are worlds all experiences are transient all traditions are superfluous all continuities are accidental all axioms are crazy all theorems are arbitrary all interpretations are incidental all universal statements are particular all acts of asserting are cancelled

3. it holds true: all negations of the statements in (2) are equally correct.

4. the copy is the original of reality. 5. the so-called art and the so-called science must be overcome in order to

reach a situation where experience, emotion and thinking constitute a unity.

6. the remaining problems for the future can only be solved through team- work. consequently, the prevailing conception of intellectual property must be diminished gradually: it is no longer a matter of distributing intellectual property, but of changing society together, so that living and working will no longer appear as irreconciliable spheres.

7. art, literature, science, economy, etc. must relativize and penetrate each other at the same time. as findings that can be taken in possession are not decisive for science, but the process of cognition; as the finished product alone they should not be decisive for economy, but the process of production and its structure, so the creative process will become more and more decisive for art and literature, and not the product that can be marketed. evolution instead of objects.

APPENDIX 2

U. MEYER, CONCEPTUAL ART (1972: VIII-IX) The function of the critic and the function of the artist have been traditionally divided; the artist's concern was the production of the work and the critic's was its evaluation and interpretation. During the past several years a group of young

129


artists evolved the idiom of Conceptual Art, which eliminated this division. Conceptual artists take over the role of the critic in terms of framing their own propositions, ideas, and concepts. "Because of the implied duality of perception and conception in earlier art, a middleman (critic) appeared useful. This [Conceptual] art both annexes the functions of the critic and makes the middleman unnecessary."' Sympathizing with this particular viewpoint, certain critics no longer insist upon the absolute division of these functions.2

An essential aspect of Conceptual Art is its self-reference; often the artists define the intentions of their work as part of their art. Thus, many Conceptual artists advance propositions or investigations. It is in keeping, then, with Conceptual Art that it is best explained through itself, i.e., through the examination of Conceptual Art, rather than through any assumptions outside of itself. In this sense, this book is not a "critical anthology" but a documentation of Conceptual Art and Statements. "Critical interpretation" tends to frame propositions different from the artist's intention, thus prejudicing information. The dependence of the "educated art world" on professional criticism compounds the error.

Why do you waste your time and mine by trying to get value judgments? Don't you see that when you get a value judgment, that's all you have? Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness.3

Conceptual Art makes the ideational premise of the work known, a decided contrast to other contemporary art, which is not concerned with defining the intention of the work, attending (almost) exclusively to its appearance. The IDEA of the work, which only the artist could reveal, remains hidden, thus becoming everybody's guessing game and/or responsibility. Under these circumstances there is, indeed, a need for critical interpretation. It gives the gamut of art and art-objects some semblance of coherence and stability, some measure of "objective evaluation," although this process is arbitrary in terms of the artist's intentions. Attending to the critical function itself is the nature of Conceptual Art. There is no further need for critical interpretation of idea and intention already clearly stated.

Conceptual Art completed the break with traditional esthetics that the Dadaists, and notably Marcel Duchamp, initiated. Traditional esthetics could not quite recuperate from the assault of the Ready-mades. Duchamp considered them mainly a satirical gesture toward a dim-witted, elitist establishment. "I threw the urinoir4 into their faces," he wrote later, "and now they come and admire it for its beauty."5 The critical misunderstanding of his intentions, which troubled Duchamp for decades, still abounds today. The following exemplifies the confusion that results from the division of the functions of critic and artist. In 1961 Duchamp made his intentions in regard to the Ready-mades explicitly clear. "A certain state of affairs that I am particularly anxious to clarify, is that the choice of these Ready- mades was never dictated by any esthetic delectation. Such choice was always based on a reflection of visual indifference and at the same time total absence of good taste."6 Contrary to Marcel Duchamp's explicit intentions, a recent critique

1. Joseph Kosuth, "Introductory Note by the American Editor," Art-Language Vol. 1, No. 2 (1970). 2. For example Gregory Battcock, Lucy R. Lippard, John Perreault. 3. Richard Kostelanetz, "We Don't Know Any Longer Who I Was" (interview with John Cage). The New York Times, March 17, 1968. 4. Reference to Fountain, 1917. 5. Hans Richter, "In Memory of a Friend," Art in America (July/August, 1969). 6. Marcel Duchamp, Statement at a conference during the "Assemblage" exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, 1961.


states: "The first ready-made was Bicycle Wheel (1913). Duchamp's choice was dictated by common stylistic preferences and the success of the piece depended then-as now-on its stylishness."7

Duchamp rejected the myth of the precious and stylish objet d'art, a commodity for the benefit of museums and status seekers. His interest turned from the tradition of painting to the challenge of invention.

APPENDIX 3

APHORISMS ON STAMPING* 1. Excursus: Timm Ulrichs "Why do I stamp?'

"I have always tried to express myself even by the simplest means, and thus the stamp as an unpretentious or, if you prefer, as a 'democratic' and 'non-elitist' instrument of printing came in very handy. It is a popular 'means of production' which everybody can take into possession. No previous experience is necessary to handle it; any child knows that - so the stamp is a favorite children's game: everyone can be a printer and carry round his printing-press" (1975:74).

Ulrichs speaks of the stamp, whereas I am going to speak of stamping.' Nevertheless, some of his aspects are characteristic of stamping, too.

2. As is known there are stamping-characters (made of different materials) that can be put together in a frame, forming words or sentences, and which can be printed then en bloc:

der versuch einer veranderung einer erfahrung

Furthermore there are characters mounted on wooden, metallic, or plastic blocks and which are separately inked and printed.

AUSSEN Working with such single characters will be discussed now.

3. Stamping: an operation between writing and printing, as is shown by a first comparison of characteristic features.

Characteristic features of writing: individual writing-trace, or individual handwriting process: coordination of eyes,

brain, and hands;

7. Carter Ratcliff, "New York," Art International (Summer, 1970). * A German version appeared in Zeitschrift ffir Semiotik 2, 1980:381-385. 1. In this essay I am concerned with the use of stamps for text-presentation rather than with the production of special stamps or printing processes in general which are described by Timm Ulrichs (1975:66-82): "Stempel, zur Kunst gestempelt." Cf. also G.F. Schwarzbauer, "Kunstlerstempel," (1974:67-84).

131


individual writing-speed, slow production-speed; individual, hand-written characters (as realizations of certain types of graphemic

tokens); linear temporal sequence of motions; usually arranged in lines, but arbitrarily arrangeable on the surface; usually words interrupted by spaces, combined into strings that emerge out of the writing-rhythm, realizable with various writing utensils, admitting conclusions about the author;

usually having social functions (establishing contact, information, communication, etc.);

usually establishing a limited public; individual work.

Characteristic features of printing: mechanical typesetting; mechanical, high production speed; standardized typography; successive printing of a whole page at once using preset types; usually arranged in lines, but arbitrarily arrangeable on the surface; usually words interrupted by spaces, combined into strings, using preset blocks of

types; produced by different printing processes; usually assigned to purposes; usually establishing (according to its general intention) an unlimited public.

Characteristic features of stamping: non-individual writing process: coordination of eyes, brain, hands, body; slow production speed (slower than writing or printing); standardized characters, prints are usually not identical because of individual

variations in inking, imprinting, depending on the absorbency of the surface (e.g., paper, cardboard);

AAAAAA linear temporal sequence of motions; usually arranged in lines, but arbitrarily arrangeable on the surface; usually combining letters into words, words to texts that are constituted in the act

of stamping; produced with different types and inks; usually assigned to particular purposes; usually establishing a limited public (similar to writing); individual work.

4. Stamping: protracted or aggravated writing. The individual ductus of the

stamping person is preserved (the bigger the stamp and the more incalculable the surface to be stamped, the better the "individuality" of the stamp will be preserved).

5. Why stamping? If stamping is merely used as an easily available replacement for printing, then the inherent possibilities of stamping are given up. In this case, it would be better to

print or to use letraset, so that the (intended) better legibility will be achieved. Stamping as a possibility of acting between writing and printing allows of holding

an interesting position in the continua between the individual and the standardized,


between writing and graphic, between communication and refusal, between process and result, between information and presentation of the very physis of the sign, etc.

6. Of course, stamped texts such as the ones in my project "das geruest" (the scaffold)2 constitute the theme of 'reading (missing blanks, the text is partly arranged sideways, non-linear, etc.). The medium of writing loses its normality; it is taken as a physical event aside from its semantic information.

7. Stamped characters are architectonic phenomena. Their position on the surface presupposes a decision, their combination into words is a conscious, constructive act, and no routine of writing.

A 0 They stimulate playing, manipulation, handling, they overcome their function as mere components for the construction of words, they provoke coincidence, manual skills.

Etl,^'; .*,..- Mo They invite playfulness, the sensing of the surface. They resist profundity: even the action is great fun.

8. Stamping necessitates reflectiveness. Each word develops slowly and only "under pressure," space must be found for each constituent of the word, the relation to other elements on the page must be determined. Each work is constructed on the surface in many "senseless" stages, whereas in writing the word is written as an entity, visually anticipated as an entity in the writing process.

2. S.J. Schmidt, "das geruest, hommage a I. Kant." Werkstatt Breitenbrunn, 1978.

133


VE

VER

VE RAE VERAE N VE RAEN

etc. Should another word be added? Is it worth the work? Is it worth the word? What is gained by this?

9. If there is a word of truth in the statement that language in its poetic use avoids the pragmatic function of transferring meaning and that it presents-beside this transfer-its material aesthetic qualities (sound, rhythm, etc.), then stamping is the poetic action kat exochen.

SPRACHEN 10. Stamping is a manual effort at language, a compositional act in space and time.

11. Stamping indeed reduces the individuality of the characters and the ductus of the writing. But this reduction does not end up with the mechanics of printing. By stamping other modes of individual expression are favored which must be formally disciplined, since it must put up with the given means (stamps).


12. When someone finally decides on stamping as a mode of action (without being made or forced to do so), he or she must have had something in mind. May we thus conclude that:

ICHSTEMPLEAL SODENKE ICHI

REFERENCES

Accame, V., 1974. La Practica del Segno (Milano: Schuarz). Bowles, Jerry G. and Tony Russel, eds., 1971. This Book is a Movie: An Exhibition of

Language, Art and Visual Poetry (New York: Dell). Beuys, J., 1975. Artforum, in: Douglas Davis, ed. and trans. Vom Experiment zur Idee

(Cologne: DuMont). Damen, Herman, 1972. Manifesto "poesia visiva," Lotta Poetica 15-16. Davis, D., 1975. Vom Experiment zur Idee (Cologne: DuMont). Dencker, Klaus Peter, 1972. Textbilder: Visuelle Poesie International (Cologne: DuMont).

1978 "Drei Kapitel zur Visuellen Poesie," in: TECKEN, catalogue Malm6 Konsthall, 58-64. de Vree; Paul, 1971. Manifesto, Lotta Poetica 1. Einstein, C., 1973. Die Fabrikation der Fiktionen (Rowohlt: Reinbek b. Hamburg). Eisendle, H., 1978. "Gedaukeu zu Literatur, Kunst un Wissenschaft," Manus-Kripte 18,

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